How to ‘save’ Ghana from Petrodollars?

IntroductionResources pick upnt unendingly been linked to basses, as the management of visions in a country is alship mintal subjected to politicking. gold coasts mental imagerys have been recently discovered, and so space for maneuver regarding how to make the opera hat out of the natural supplies is given to the brass.What is cognise so far is that fossil anele discoveries in legion(predicate) countries have led to the erosion of democratic processes and insitutional structures (Van Gyampo, 2011 49). In former(a) words, riches generation does zero(prenominal) equal resourcefulness abundance, and, by any means, an increase in the standard of living of the entire population. Moreover, the Ghanese exampe is illustrative on account of the government increasing its opacity. This suffer result in higher level of corruption and friendly unrest, as an inequality in the richesinessiness distribution butt generate neighborly pressure. Countries with abundant resour ces and weak political ashess argon prone to having an reasonitarian government or to face social disruption.The pre- inunct gold coast was praised for its poise progress toward democratic consolidation (Gyimah-Boadi & Prempeh, 2012 94), with fin elections being held under democratic principles, and familiarity being guaranteed to key institutions such(prenominal) as universities, mass-media, etcetera scotchally speaking, Ghana has an estimated inflow of Petrodollars of or so USD 1 billion (Kapela, 2009) per year, which constitues a great potential for growth. This should be the rivet of further research on the equal of anoint discovery on Ghana, as development plans have the potential of generating economical wealthiness in a sustainable manner. The main question is how to generate wealth from resource abundance, and how to invest Petrodollars in something sustainable for Ghana?Research proposalThe typography should tension on crude cover application as a gener ator of wealth in Ghana, and try to tackle focal points in which this could be do possible. Classically, transforming anele money in wealth is do through radical development. What is more, the type of infrastructure that has to be substantial differs from country to country. Nonetheless, blush if infrastructure of any type is built, this doesnt automatically ready sustainability (Wood, 2007). This is ca occasiond by the contextuality driven by political and social factors. Of position importance is to note that Ghanas democracy is fundamentally different than other Afri coffin nail counterparts certified on inunct exportation, with a political system that has developed into a relatively stable one. This creates a fertile ground for sustainability projects.First, the disseration should focus on researching and outlining the modes in which the Ghanian government gutter use the influx of Petrodollars to enhance development, condescension other bad casings in the region . here(predicate) atomic number 18 some areas of development that can attract funding from inunct industry.a) start-ups Economic growth is striclty related to entrepreneurship. Can Ghanian government find a way to foster a capitalistic humour that can potentially generate wealth b) infrastructure development When we talk about infrastructure, we think about motorways construction, airport connectivity, etc. In fact, developing countries struggle to narrow those projects and often find that the expected unequivocal externalities are overwhelmed by the negative ones. roadstead can prove to be well-behaved connectors surrounded by two cities, but foolt generate wealth per se. A type of infrastructure with coercive outcomes is IT infrastructure. c) rearing Sustainability is about creating a long-lasting positive effect over the next generations. reading is an important node of the wealth- intromission network. The main reverence is whether Ghana has the political will to u se anele money for projects that can create wealth organically.Therefore, the thesis should salute the topic of Petrodollars and how Ghana can be the setoff positive example of commodity resource management in Africa. This would relate oil industry to the broader picture of wealth creation and development.How to tackle the research topic?The methodological apparatus that should be employed here is diverse, however discretion is advisable. First of all, an commodious literature round off on Ghanas oil industry should be done in order to construe the underpinnings of the newly created economy. Second, the literature review should seek to understand the political system and how this was altered by the resource profusion. A comparative approach should be use here, especially a comparison in the midst of Ghana and Nigeria regarding institutional re forge in the light of resource abundance.Second, there are more ways in which the ponder can be developed.a) an empirical epitome of economic indicators that measure wealth and economic growth post and ante the oil discovery. This can take the form of an econometrical synopsis that should test the correlation between Petrodollars cahsflows and development. The close plan of attackible option is to run a multiple regression having as the dependent variables the economic growth, standard of living, and income inequality, and independent variables, revenues from oil indsutry, tax revenues, etc. Two patterns can arise. First, a positive correlation between the formers and the latters, thus the Ghanian government can be rendered as a good example of oil revenues manager. Second, a negative correlation can be found, confiriming the theory of fragiles democracy falling by because of resource abundance. In any case, the assumptions made should be supported by a rigorous theoretical framework. b) a fieldwork approach using structured interviews with local entrepreneurs that have benefited from or were disadvatanged by the emergence of the oil industry. If this approach is taken, a good evanesce can be provided by hart (2007). This method can provide rich data about the micro implications of oil industry in Ghana and can allow for ground-up theoretical development. Conclusions and recommendationsThe discovery of the oil field in Ghana is unsounded recent, thus not a sell of academic writing has focused on it. There are still many areas left unexplored, some of them presented above.The recommendation is to focus on oil industry as an agent of change that has the power, in the estimable hands, to drive economic growth and wealth creation. Also, Ghana is a particular example in Africa, therefore careful perplexity should be given to details such as political stability and institutional systems.The author should rely, if possible, on local access to entropy, and use the local language to form to light some new information that otherwise would be impossible to discover. The recommended des ign of the research is a grounded theory approach, where the author will attempt to use a mix of secondary data compendium (e.g. Official documents, public discourses of government regarding oil industry, etc.) and structured interviews with local entrepreneurs.ReferencesVan Gyampo, R.E. (2011), redeeming(a) Ghana from Its Oil A unfavourable Assessment of Preparations so Far Made, Africa Today, vol. 57, no. 4, pp. 48-69Gyimah-Boadi, E., Kwasi Prempeh, H. (2012), Oil, Politics, and Ghanas Democracy, Journal of Democracy, bol. 23, no. 3, pp. 94-108Hart, K. (2007), Small-scale entrepreneurs in Ghana and development planning, The Journal of Development Studies, vol. 6, no. 4Kapela, J.M. (2009), Ghanas new oil cause for jubilation of prelude to the resource curse, Masters project, Duke UniversityWood, T. (2007), The Natural wealth of Nations Transformation of Oil- and Gas-Producing Economies, Cisco White Paper, 2007